1. Field of the Invention
According to Stanford Resources, the Large Screen Display (LSD) market will generate revenues of nearly $4 billion annually by 2002.sup.1. LSD's are typically used in sports stadia and arenas, airports, casinos, and areas of high pedestrian and vehicular traffic. High initial cost, high maintenance costs, installation requirements, and lack of robustness have prevented current LSD technologies from more quickly penetrating the marketplace. Moreover, current LSD technology is limited to two dimensions (i.e. planar displays), and thus is not as appealing for new LSD uses such as interactive gaming and immersive environments such as simulators, and integration with architectural structures. .sub.1 "Large Screen Information Displays--Market Trends, Technologies--Applications," Third Edition 1995-96, Stanford Resources, Inc.
Fiber optic LSD's offer substantial improvements over current CRT- and LED-based displays, due to their smaller depth, lighter weight, and elimination of sensitive and expensive electronic components on the surface of the display. Because the displayed image is generated by a data/video projector, LCD panel, or other equivalent spatial light modulator, fiber optic displays are not "resolution bound" as are LED and CRT displays, which are comprised of a fixed number of RGB pixels on the display surface. Furthermore, fiber optic LSD's generate neither heat nor EMI at the display surface.
Fiber optic displays, however, are not without shortcomings. One of the most difficult technical problems of LSD's is the tiling or "shingling" effect due to slight misalignment of the many tiles of which the display is comprised. This problem is made worse in fiber optic displays, where it is imperative that the fibers terminate on the display at precisely right angles. Without such precise termination, the displays appear to lack uniformity in brightness. Since the human visual system is very adept at pattern recognition, means must be taken to mitigate the effects ofthe inter-tile mullions as well as the alignment and termination of the fiber terminals.
2. Description of Related Art
Several LSD's have been successfully constructed using optical fiber, and modular displays have been patented. However, because of the method by which the modules are joined, as well as the lack of a suitable light-shaping diffusion element at the display surface, current displays cannot be contoured.
The use of smaller tiles is based upon the concept of a "throw-away" display. In other words, if one or more of the tiles are damaged (e.g., by the impact of a rock or other hard object), they can be discarded and replaced in the field at minimal cost, without dismantling the entire display.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,168 discloses a fiber optic display comprised of modules which can be adjusted both horizontally and vertically to eliminate the shingling effect. Because ofthe two-dimensional alignment mechanism, contoured display surfaces are not feasible with this invention. No lensing process is discussed in this patent, a feature that is essential for contoured displays.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,998 discloses a portable fiber optic LSD. The specific embodiment disclosed is not modular, however, and may only be contoured by wrapping it around a contoured object.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,502 discloses a thin or curved display comprised of fixed waveguides. Because of its reliance on a scanning device, such as a laser, for producing the image, the physical dimensions and contours of the display are limited. As with the preceding patent, the display is not modular.